Partnering with a global company
Rodriguez identifies several advantages to colleges when they partner with a company like Facebook:
- Teach in-demand skills. As social media and digital marketing are an integral part of society, students can sharpen skills that employers want.
- Strengthen community ties. Local businesses can gain tools to connect and engage with their customers. “The bulk of businesses in Miami are family-owned. For a lot of these small businesses, [these tools are] not second nature.”
- Boost employment prospects. Students will get real-world experience so that they will be ready to work and put their degrees to good use immediately upon graduation. “Facebook understood where we’re coming from—giving our students a quality education, but also a skill-based education that lets them run with it the moment they finish the program,” Rodriguez says.
Robert Lerose
Robert Lerose is a New York-based freelance writer. He received the APEX Grand Award and seven Awards For Publication Excellence for his journalism. He was the 2004 winner of the Great American Think-Off, a philosophy competition open to the public.
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